He leaned against the doorjamb and let his eyes rake over me as if that was what they were made to do, as if looking at me supplied him with the necessities he needed to breathe.
His nostrils flared. “I imagined you in that dress, and my imagination didn’t come close to doing you justice.”
Redness flushed, and I spread my palm down the bodice as if it could smooth out my emotions that were racing wild. “Do you like it?”
Foolish girl, inviting the pain.
I didn’t know how to stop.
Logan straightened to his full height and took one step forward. Overpowering. Mind bending. Every single thing I’d once thought right.
“Do I like it?” His voice was close to a growl. “I’d forgotten what beauty really was until I found you standing in that basement.”
Heat flashed.
“Logan…we need to be careful.”
“Fuck being careful.”
He prowled my way. Every step he took sent a reverberation across the floor.
His hand landed on my hip, and he angled down to get in my face. “And for the record, there is nothingcarefulabout the way you look.”
I stared up at him. “What if I asked you to be?”
Careful with me?
Careful with us?
Careful with this whole situation?
His mouth tipped into a wicked smirk. “You asked your father to stay with me, Aster. You didn’t just throw caution into the wind, you kicked it out the fucking door. And if he gave you thirty days?”
He spread his hand out over my cheek. “Then we’re going to use it.”
My insides trembled.
A landslide.
A toppling of stones.
Then he stepped back and stretched out his hand. “Do you trust me?”
Reservations clashed with the faith I’d once had in him. Faith that he would always stand up for me. That above the money, the greed, the desires, he would always hold me highest.
I wanted to believe he would hold me there again.
I accepted his hand without giving him an answer.
A thunderbolt raced my flesh.
Every touch.
Every time.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Dinner.” He said it simply, but there was an undercurrent in his tone that lifted chills on the nape of my neck.